


Stone(d) Cold Sober

by hedoro



Category: the GazettE
Genre: Alternative Universe - Crack, Fluff, M/M, Merman!Uruha, Recreational Drug Use, Stoner!Aoi, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 06:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12102420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hedoro/pseuds/hedoro
Summary: Aoi's high and seeing things. Or is he?





	Stone(d) Cold Sober

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in my files for ages. I don't know how it happened, it just did.

"Hey... Uhm, can I ask a favour? I'm new in town and need some help."  
  
Aoi looks up from where he is standing behind the counter, bored out of his mind and waiting for the ticking of time to signal that his shift is over. He stares at the newcomer blankly, taking in his features with a mild interest. Shoulder length blond hair, eyes so pale they mimicked the shallowest waters of the Caribbean, high cheekbones, an elegant (yet slightly wide) nose and full lips that tapered into a hopeful smile.  
  
Damn, he was pretty and a good few inches taller than Aoi.  
  
"What is it you need help with?" Aoi's voice is a soft drawl that's weighed down by the local dialect of the area. Everything around his hometown is heavy, oppressive even. For a seaside town, it’s the least bit fun. Full of hard workers, and even harder drinkers. One day he reckons that he’ll be out of here. But until then, Customer-san’s face is another reminder that life must continue on and dreams are to be put aside for nighttime.  
  
The other man frowns. "I'm sorry, could you say that a little louder for me?"  
  
Rolling his eyes, Aoi repeats the question, this time in a much clearer voice. He might be rude on his days off but sadly he's on the clock and this job means a lot to him as it means more money in his pocket to put toward his favourite habit: getting lifted. "What can I help you with?"  
  
Customer-san smiles widely and practically lights up the dull store, and for a split second Aoi thinks that he sees a shimmer of something under the light fabric of Customer-san’s white t-shirt. Aoi isn't sure if he imagined it or not. Was he still high? The last blunt he smoked was at least five hours previous, about an hour before his shift started.  
  
"I'm trying to find Lotus Apartments. I was told they were on this road but I haven't seen them yet." Customer-san looks almost sad. "I'm terribly lost."  
  
Aoi knows the place well. One of his dealers lives in that apartment block. "No worries, dude, you're halfway there. It's literally ten minutes down the road, just make sure to take the third exit on your right and walk straight ahead. You won't miss the signage, it's massive." He gestures wildly with awkward hands and tries his best to give clear directions despite how unclear his head still feels.  
  
"Oh, thank you ever so much. You've been such a great help." Customer-san responds, brilliant smile even more brilliant.  
  
"No problem,” Aoi replies and watches as the tall man leaves the way he came in.  
  
Now it was just a case of pondering life and its many meanings and waiting for his shift to be over.

*******

He knocks on the door in rapid succession. A moment later the door is ripped open with a force, not unlike the Hulk. Damn, for a small dude his dealer was pretty strong.  
  
"Oh, hey, Aoi. Sorry, I thought you were the cops. Neighbours keep fuckin' settin' 'em on my ass," is the only response he gets from the shorter man. He's dressed in a leopard print dressing gown and pink boxers while his feet are stuffed into some ugly as sin slippers.  
  
"I like your slippers, Ruki," Aoi comments idly as his dealer sweeps an arm out, gesturing for Aoi to enter his humble abode.  
  
"Sure you fuckin' do. Now, what the fuck d'you want?" Ruki responds, opting to gloss over the sarcastic remark from Aoi. Blunt and straight to the point, as per usual. Aoi finds himself wondering if it's possible for something to be both blunt and pointed at the same time.  
  
"How much weed can I get for 5000 yen?" Aoi asks, not bothering with the polite pleasantries, knowing full well that Ruki preferred transactions of a transient nature; fast and over in seconds.  
  
Instead, Aoi watches on as a low hum rumbles somewhere in the back of Ruki’s throat while he does some basic mental maths, then fumbles around with a box in the corner of the living room.  
  
"I'll give you an eighth for that price. Sound good?" Ruki tells him.  
  
Aoi nods and grins. "Neato burrito, that'll do nicely."  
  
"Just be aware, this is a new strain I'm testin' out... It's supposed to be a mellow as fuck ride but still packs a punch," Ruki explains and Aoi's intrigued. "Let me know what you think, yeah?"  
  
Aoi nods once more and eagerly accepts the little baggy handed over to him. "Yeah, will do." He's about to leave but he suddenly remembers something. "Hey, do you know that new guy who moved in?"  
  
Ruki shakes his head and counts his money. "New guy? Don't recall anyone new moving in. Then again, I'm normally high so what else is new."  
  
Aoi laughs. "No worries. Anyway, thanks for this. See you some other time."  
  
"Yeah, sure. Anytime, dude," Ruki tells him as he goes back to counting the bills before stuffing them into the elastic of his pink boxers. 

*******

Aoi lights the blunt between his lips and falls back on the sand. It's nearing dusk and he's been surfing for more than half the day. He reckons he's earned this. It's his day off after all and what better way to celebrate freedom for the time being than by smoking a fat one.  
  
Soon enough he's smoked it completely and the haze of weed in his system has him flying higher than the birds and floating lighter than the clouds. His body sinks into the sand and he lies there for a while, letting everything roll over him in calming waves. Ruki was right. This strain was brilliant. He'd need to get more at some point.  
  
The sound of a startled seagull rouses him from his stupor and he leans upon elbows squinting in the dying light of the sun. In his exhausted, post-surfing and hella lifted state he almost wonders if what he's seeing is real.  
  
He giggles. "Hey, Mermaid-san, I like your tail!"  
  
"Thanks! I like your surfboard!" a voice calls back sweetly.  
  
He's about to respond but realises as his mind chugs slowly through a myriad of thoughts that, wait, what? That can't be right.  
  
He blinks a few times and shakes his head when he realises that it's just a seal on a rock. Man, he was fucking high. Wow. This really was some great shit after all. Mermaids weren’t real but they sure existed in his head while he was toking up on this strain.  
  
"Wild, fucking wild," is all he can say and passes out shortly after.

*******

Tick tock tick tock tick tock.  
  
The clock on the wall behind him mocks him loudly. It’s late, almost 9 PM and his shift wasn't over for another hour yet. Thankfully, there hadn't been many customers. The rain pelting off the awning seemingly put a damper on any late night cigarette and beer runs made by locals that he was used to. Resting against the cigarette case behind him, puffing on a joint and reading an article on some new band in a music magazine, he waits for time to pass.  
  
The bell overhead the door chimes and signals to him obnoxiously that his ideas of a quiet night are to be interrupted.  
  
Looking up slowly from his magazine, he notices that it’s the man from a few days prior. He’s soaking wet and dripping water all over the floor. Aoi hid a snort at the thought that he looks like he’s just walked out the ocean. And is that a chunk of seaweed in his hair?  
  
Aoi’s seen weirder things so it doesn't faze him too much. Maybe he got wasted and fell asleep on the beach? After all, Aoi just recently did the same himself.  
  
"Hi there," Customer-san greets him with a soft smile and peers at Aoi with alluring blue-green eyes. "Thanks for helping me get to where I was going the other day. I found the apartment complex easily with your directions."  
  
Aoi shrugs. "Sure, it was no problem. Anything I can help you with tonight?" he asks, staring at the man's body unabashedly and noticing how the fabric of Customer-san's clothes clung to his body. Was that an elaborate tattoo disappearing under soggy trousers? "You look like you could use a towel."  
  
Customer-san laughs. "Yes, you are right. I do, don't I? But, uhm, I was wondering, do you happen to sell whole fish here?" he asks, tone hopeful and slightly melancholic.  
  
"Uh, the supermarket a few blocks down does but it's closed right now. The only fish we sell here happens to be in a sandwich or sushi." It wasn't very helpful. But at least it’s an answer. Also a coherent one, somehow.  
  
"Sah-san? Sand wedge?" There is a look of confusion on Customer-san's face as he toys with the word on his tongue. "What is a sand wedge?" he asks.  
  
Aoi raises an eyebrow, snorts and nearly drops his blunt. Thankfully, he recovers in time to place it in a nearby ashtray. "A sand wedge is a type of golf club and it's pronounced sand _wich_. Have you seriously never heard of a sandwich?" he asks, completely incredulous. He might have been high and he might have mistaken seals for mermaids but no way was he ever kiting so hard that he didn't know how to pronounce the word sandwich.  
  
Customer-san with his soggy trousers and lone strand of seaweed shook his head. "No, I don't know what that is."  
  
This guy must be fucking wasted. Nevertheless, Aoi decides to humour him. At least this was more entertaining than just standing around doing nothing. "Wait here. I'll be right back."  
  
A minute later, he’s back at the counter and handing over a tuna sandwich to the guy in front of him. "Open here, like this, and try it."  
  
After the second bite of the sandwich, Customer-san's mouth split into a happy grin that nearly split his face apart. "Oh, my, this is good! I've never had tuna like this before! It's delicious."  
  
Aoi chokes, inhaling the wrong way and wheezes as he laughs. How could someone look that amazing while eating a sandwich? Kami-Sama, help him, this guy was unbelievably pretty and dumb.  
  
"Well, now you know what a sandwich is," was all Aoi could respond, watching as the man in front of him reacted happily to the sandwich like Aoi would a good dick.  
  
"You accept payment now, yes?" he asks once he’s finished eating the last morsel.  
  
Aoi grins at Customer-san and safely files the images of the whole spectacle in his mind for later. "Nah, it's on the house."  
  
"On the house?" More confusion.  
  
"You know, free of charge?" What the hell was this guy on. Aoi wanted to know. And wanted to try it. For science.  
  
"Oh, I see," Customer-san hummed happily, smiling brightly once more. "Well, thanks for the... sand _wich_. I'd better be going. I need to feed my dolphin."  
  
Aoi shook his head, watching as Customer-san walks out the door and down the street before going back to smoking his spliff, thinking to himself, “What a fucking riot that was.”

*******

It soon became a random occurrence for Customer-san (now known as Uruha after Aoi finally remembered to ask for a name) to saunter into the store and ask about any number of random things that most humans should have learned about in twenty years of life (he'd remembered to ask that question too, just on the off chance they ever got jiggy with it in the back of the stock room).  
  
Sometimes, Aoi thought that Uruha was high on acid and tripping harder than a travel journalist globe-trotting all over the world.  
  
Sadly, it turned out that he was just really, _really_ sheltered. Then again, Aoi still had no idea how even the most sheltered of people didn’t know what the fuck a sandwich was. That was baffling to him. Thankfully he was high at that moment and took it in his stride, like everything else when it came to the strange being that was Uruha.  
  
"Would you like to come back to my house?” Aoi asks him, blowing smoke out the side of his mouth in a bid to be polite.  
  
"Why would I do that?” Uruha replies, innocently confused once more. Part of Aoi wants to stick his dick in Uruha’s mouth just to wipe that confused look off his face. At this point, it’s both annoying and starting to drive him wild. However, the other part of him settles for rolling his eyes and huffing.  
  
"To hang out obviously.” Because in what world wasn’t it obvious?  
  
Uruha smiles and finishes off his sandwich; his third tuna mayonnaise one that evening since he’d wandered into the store. Aoi almost wonders why he hasn’t got sick of those cheap, nasty sandwiches yet but the way Uruha licks his fingers and lips has him distracted. "Hangout?”  
  
"Yes, you go places with people you like and chill out with them? Maybe get high or drink a few beers? Y’know?” Aoi responds as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world because once more it is. However, he’s starting to think that Uruha might just be a little bit simple and not very bright, on top of his already sheltered upbringing.  
  
Not that Aoi was passing judgement, he’d probably wind up like that himself someday with the amount of weed he chose to smoke on the daily. He’s sure he already has a bunch of holes in his brain. He chuckles to himself. What if he died and the doctors turned him into a human bong? Dude, that would be sick.  
  
Logic wasn’t his strong point. However, rolling a joint or two was. And that’s what he did as Uruha asked yet another question. "Chill out? You… sleep in fridges?” His eyes were wide and in awe.  
  
Aoi grins goofily and decides to pull on a leg or two. "Yeah, we also happen to sleep in bathtubs, too. Anyway, my shift is over, let’s go.”  
  
And with that he drags Uruha out of the store, locking up behind them and walks them back to his apartment.

*******

They’re sitting watching a movie and just when he thinks that he’s found something that will occupy Uruha’s mind for more than a five minutes, he’s proved wrong.  
  
“What is it that you are forever sucking on?” Uruha asks him out of the blue as he stares at Aoi’s mouth intently. His eyes linger there for a moment before his gaze sweeps upward and catches Aoi’s eyes. It’s a curious stare filled with something else. Aoi’s not sure what it means exactly but he shrugs and responds anyway. He’s far too high to think in riddles right now.  
  
“It’s a blunt. You don’t suck it, so much as you smoke it,” Aoi tells him matter of factly.  
  
“What does it do?” Uruha asks softly as he timidly raises a hand to Aoi’s mouth. Aoi shivers under the warm touch of incredibly soft fingers. The joint threatens to fall from between parted lips. But it doesn’t matter much when Uruha’s deft fingers slip around it and take it from him.  
  
Aoi allows it and watches carefully as Uruha inspects it. “When you smoke it, it alters your mind in a way and makes you feel like you’re happy and mellow. Sometimes it makes me feel like I’m swimming in the sea.”  
  
He notices Uruha’s eyes light up at that and he slowly sniffs at the spliff between his fingers. “It smells… pungent,” he says, face scrunching up adorably. “It smells about as nice as what falls to the ocean floor.”  
  
Okay, that was a little random and oddly specific. He was expecting “skunky” or “burning leaves,” yes. Dead sea creatures? Not so much.  
  
“I’ve never heard it being described as that but whatever floats your boat.” Aoi shrugs and relaxes into his seat, content to let Uruha do… whatever it is that he wants to do with his nearly burnt out joint.  
  
“Does it really make you swim?” Uruha wonders. Aoi nods.  
  
“Well, yeah… in a way. But it affects everyone differently.”  
  
“I just… put it in my mouth and suck?”  
  
Aoi grins and ignores the nagging need to make a dirty joke at Uruha’s expense. He’s sure it would go over the weirdo’s head anyway. “Basically.”

*******

For the first time in his life, Aoi wishes that he was high.  
  
Okay, so he was high. But he clearly hadn't smoked enough in this case because his mind was still trying to do the maths instead of just letting him roll with it. He was recounting every detail and event that led up to this moment in time. Fogged with the effects of weed, he kind of just stood there, processing everything at a rate that even snails could lap many times over, watching in partial shock but mostly awe.  
  
"You know, where I'm from, we have a saying. Roughly translated it means you'll turn into a whale if you keep your mouth open like that." The words are punctuated by the gentle sound of sloshing water in the bathtub as a shimmering, iridescent-scaled tail undulates up and down in a thoughtful manner.  
  
While it was true that Aoi had dropped out of high school in favour of the finer pursuits in life (such as surfing, blunt rolling and getting various states of inebriated), one thing he had learned was that mermaids... Or in this case, mermen were not real.  
  
So just why the fuck was there a fucking merman lying naked in his bathtub?

*******

Aoi’s pacing up and down in front of him. Uruha isn’t quite sure what the big deal is. He only smoked five of Aoi’s joints and that was only because Aoi had told him it would make him feel like he was swimming. The first one only made him feel sick and dizzy and he passed out for a little while after it.  
  
By the time he woke up a little later, Aoi was asleep and when he’d prodded the near-dead looking human, he hadn’t responded. So he decided to try smoking some more of the substance that was apparently able to alter minds and moods.  
  
Aoi sighs, placing a hand on his forehead and tries to think straight, except he seems to realise what is happening and ends up losing it again. “Okay, what the fuck? I invited you over to hang out. I didn’t invite you over for you to smoke all my weed and unwind in my damn bathtub. Nor did I invite you over to suddenly grow a huge tail!”  
  
Uruha watches in fascination. So it’s both the weed and his tail that is the problem? “Well, there’s no need for that kind of talk. I didn’t just grow a tail. I’ve had it all my life, Aoi. Gosh, humans are dumb.”  
  
“And you’re not, mister I-Have-Never-Eaten-A-Sandwich-Before?” Aoi’s voice is a lot calmer all of a sudden, despite the fact that everything swirling around in his head is confusing him still. Idly he wondered if he should perhaps swear off his chosen drug for life after this.  
  
“To be fair,” Uruha begins and slides toward the other side of the bathtub, making sure to tuck his tail carefully into the water lest he splashes water everywhere. “I only just left my home a week ago. I’m on a gap year.”  
  
Aoi baulks, stopping mid-stride and spins around on the spot. “A gap year? What else is next?! You have a mortgage and 2.5 kids?!”  
  
“I have no idea what that first thing is,” Uruha tells him. “And we don’t call them ‘kids’. We call them fry.” Uruha remembers at least one thing in this human’s choice of words. “And no, I do not have any fry.”

*******

It took a while. A good four hours (five doubles of strong liquor and a joint) or so, before Aoi had calmed down enough to let it all pass over his head. He was still a little salty that his weed had been wasted, though. One thing was for sure, this merman wasn’t affected by the recreational drug Aoi partook of, and he certainly wouldn’t be giving it to him again anytime soon.  
  
Currently, they were asking each other questions and getting to know each other in a way that only frequent drug use (for Aoi’s part) and curious innocence (on Uruha’s part) would: slightly stoned and completely honest.  
  
Their worlds were now vast and open to one another, each a gateway to the myriad secrets held by their respective races.  
  
“So, you have… Ten siblings?” Aoi asks softly.  
  
“Yeah, they split their time between the sea and land,” Uruha replies from under the water.  
  
That was something Aoi was still getting used to. It was a neat party trick, though that description had Uruha’s tail slapping water in a haughty manner and letting out a huffy, “It’s not a party trick. How else are we going to communicate with each other?”  
  
Aoi’s answer of “Echolocation and air bubbles?” was followed by Uruha splashing water all over the bathroom floor in abject annoyance.  
  
After which, Uruha’s response of “We’re fish-human hybrids. Not dolphins, you baked clam,” had Aoi laughing for nearly five minutes straight. And after he had wiped tears of mirth from his eyes, he agreed that yeah, he was pretty baked.  
  
Aoi fails to hold back a snort. “So, why the gap year? Don’t you just prefer to stay in the sea?”  
  
Uruha sighs. “It gets pretty boring, you know? Besides, it’s part of our tradition; kids go off and find themselves and choose what they want to do with their lives,” he begins, explaining his culture as best he could in terms that were understandable. Human language had its intricacies that his tongue couldn’t quite wrap around well enough yet. “Some merpeople decide to use their talents on land, I have a friend that works with Greenpeace for instance and another that works in some eco-friendly tech company. Some just come on land for holidays.”  
  
Aoi hums loudly. “That’s pretty cool. We have that shit here too. Our species are sort of the same. Only we probably do more damage to the environment, eh?”  
  
Uruha nods in a solemn manner. “The fish stocks are plummeting, oil spills happen all too often, and don’t get me started on—”  
  
“That’s all well and good,” Aoi interrupts with a quiet tone as he rests on the floor beside the bathtub. “I understand the plight of the world, really. It’s a sad state of affairs but what about your legs?” he asks in wonder. It’s a question that he’s held back for a solid two hours, out of politeness - he isn’t sure if it’s a taboo topic - before he finally blurts it out, unable to stop his curiosity any longer.  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“Where did they go?” Aoi replies as if it was the most obvious question in the world.  
  
“Oh, we’re able to change them at will,” Uruha responds as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.  
  
“Oh, I see. That’s pretty handy…” Aoi pauses and sniggers. “Or leggy in this case.”  
  
Uruha groans. “Please don’t do that again. Even in my limited knowledge in human studies, I know that was a terrible pun.”  
  
Shrugging, Aoi yawns. “Yeah, you’re right. It was bad. But I’m tired. So I’m going to find my bed and pass out for a few more hours. Are you good here or you want a blanket for the sofa?”  
  
“I… You’re letting me stay in your house?”  
  
“Uh, yeah? Unless you feel like walking back to your apartment?”  
  
Uruha shook his head and smiles. “No, I’d rather stay in your bathtub, if I’m honest. It’s larger than mine and comfier.”  
  
Aoi nods and bids Uruha goodnight, leaving him to his own devices. He steals one last glance at the merman and watches as Uruha curls up under the water before shutting the door behind him.  
  
If he was honest with himself, part of him was still in a little bit of shock. And as he falls asleep in his bed, it dawns on him that there’s a real-life merman in his bathtub.

*******

A few weeks pass by and everything seems normal. Or, well, normal in the way that it had never been normal between them. Aoi was finding out all sorts and finding many answers to the lingering questions his mind fished from the back of his head.  
  
“So, the night you walked in soaking wet?”  
  
“Ah, I’d just come out the sea.”  
  
“The shimmery tattoo I thought I saw?”  
  
“Hadn’t given my scales time to change.”  
  
“Sandwiches?”  
  
“Mother tongue and I’d never heard of them before. Still find it hard to understand some things you say. However, sandwiches, tuna mayo especially, are super delicious.”  
  
“Feed my dolphin, though?”  
  
“I actually did. She’s my pet. Found her injured and nearly dead when I was a child. Nursed her back to health with my parents’ help.”  
  
“Wait, was that you on the rock?”  
  
“Guilty. I might have watched you surfing a lot. You’re really good.”  
  
Aoi blushes and coughs. “You watched me surf? How long?”  
  
Looking away, Uruha shrugs as his tail sloshes water to and fro in a shy manner. He blushes and slips under the water with a quiet, embarrassed sigh.  
  
“Too long,” he whispers. “Maybe a month or two before I made up my mind to come on dry land.”  
  
“You… Was I the reason you came here?” Aoi wonders aloud, taking slight pleasure in the fact that he had caused such a reaction in the merman in front of him.  
  
A flustered noise followed by air bubbling to the surface is the only answer he gets.  
  
“Wait, does that mean…” Aoi trails off, unsure if his assumption is right. “Does that mean you have a crush on me?”  
  
From underneath the water, he hears a timid, “Is that what this feeling is?”

*******

Uruha’s favourite place is the bathroom in Aoi’s apartment. Specifically, the bathtub. And now it’s Aoi’s favourite room in his apartment too. He always did like the cool floor tiles on his pounding head after a night of drinking but now he likes that specific room for an altogether different reason - one that Uruha shows only him. Glittering scales and a brilliant smile.  
  
Aoi’s heart thumps happily in its cage and the rhythmic sound of Uruha’s tail swishing water back and forth soothes his mind more than any hangover cure or blunt could.  
  
They’ve been testing the waters so to speak for a little over six weeks and the question has been on Aoi’s mind an awful lot. He doesn’t want to bring it up but he’s unsure about what it means for _that_ side of their relationship.  
  
“You can ask, you know? You’re anxious over something, I can tell.” Uruha’s perceptiveness is sometimes a little unsettling. So is the fact that he seems to know Aoi more than Aoi knows himself in the short time they’ve known each other.  
  
Aoi bites his lip, then releases a breath of air. “What of reproduction?” he finally asks.  
  
Uruha’s head breaches slowly from the water, face akin to shock as ripples move along the surface. He sputters, “Wh-what?”  
  
Aoi rears up from the floor, peeking over the rim of the bathtub, as his arms curl over the edge to hold himself up. His vision is blurred and his brain rattles around inside his skull. He doesn’t know what possesses him - probably his dick - but he finds himself repeating his question a little more directly than intended. “I mean, what about sex?”  
  
Uruha blushes. “I know how it works but…” Uruha responds, and his tail swishes gently under the water. “Just never came up, you know?”  
  
Aoi grins, sluggish and still partly drunk from the night before. “So you’re a…” He trails off and lets his fingers dip under the water. “A virgin?”  
  
Ducking his head, Uruha stares at Aoi’s hands as they drag through the water with a gentle ease. He nods. “Yeah… You could say that.”  
  
“And what,” Aoi pauses, looking for the right words. “What of human and merman relations?”  
  
Uruha gasps and ducks back under the water, letting the cool feeling soothe the heated embarrassment he feels rush over his body.  
  
He watches as Aoi’s hands continue trailing through the water above him and presses himself as low to the bathtub floor as is possible. The look of awe on Aoi’s face is distorted by the movements of his hands through the water, and Uruha wonders if it is normal to feel this way about a human.  
  
He lets out a sigh that bubbles up through the water when one of Aoi’s hands accidentally brush against his tail. Uruha finds his tail unconsciously seeking Aoi’s touch once more. The hint is taken and obliged. Palm soft and fingertips rough, stroking in a tentative motion. Curious and intrigued.  
  
This was new territory for both of them.  
  
Uruha’s voice is shy and quiet when he finally says something. “I’d have to ask about it, I don’t know how it works with humans. Maybe my brothers or sisters have a better understanding.”  
  
At that, Aoi peers down at Uruha’s strange form under the water and smiles softly. Dipping his head under the water, he searches for Uruha’s mouth. For once in his life, despite the drugs and alcohol in his system, he feels stone cold sober.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! ♥


End file.
